Carts And Greens

We have recieved over 5 inches of rain since last Friday. To speed the
greens back up we are brushing prior to cutting and rolling this
morning.

Carts will be restricted to paths only today with the use of blue flags.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Cart rules for Tuesday 10/26

Today we will be restricting carts to paths only.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Video of Hartefeld Mix and Mingle

On October 14th, we held an Open House in our Turf Center. What a great event!! During the open house, we had an equipment demonstration, Q&A on our management practices and trivia. Trivia was a huge success!! I look forward to doing this again next year in the summer. For now, take a look at the video I put together from the event.

A big thank you to my crew for getting things ready for the evening and my wife for all the great video and pictures!!

Green speeds

I wanted to make sure I clarified our green speeds upon posting.
Today, the greens are stimping approximately 12.5ft on the stimpmeter.
12.5 feet and they WERE NOT cut today. One reason for the increased
speed is the changing season. Over the last week we recieved December
like temperatures. These in combination with much shorter day lengths,
the grass is begining to shutdown. Sand will fluxate in temperature
much quicker than clay or loam. This is why the greens will yellow out
quicker in the fall and green up faster in the spring than any other
area of the course.
We have reduced our greens mowing to 4 days a week, but have
continued our in season rolling schedule. If temperatures dictate the
need to increase our mowing frequency, we will do so.
There are also agronomic reasons the greens are as true and as
quick as they are, fertlity and growth regulator mangement are just a
few reasons.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

10/20 Frost Delay

Frost delay until 9:15 today.

Frost delay update

Frost delay until 9:15am this morning.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

10/19 Frost Delay

Brrrr....Temperatures around 29 degrees, we have a heavy frost today. Details about the delay will be posted, once the sun breaks the horizon.

Cart Rules Today

Yesterday we received over 1.5 inches of rain with the coastal storm. We will be restricting carts to paths only today with the use of Blue Flags. If you are utilizing a Blue Flag, please be very cautious, it is extremely wet out there.

October Issue of GCI Magazine

The October electronic edition of Golf Course Industry magazine is now available, featuring the latest industry business trends and agronomic information, as well as the following "must-read" feature stories:

• Mobile Mileage: Get the most out of your smartphone with superintendent-friendly apps. In addition, researchers at the University of Georgia develop the first mobile application for turfgrass management.

• Winter Tee Management: Solutions for preventing wear and tear - from mats, to deer netting, to enlarging tees.

• In-house Blowouts: Superintendents perform fall irrigation blowouts in-house to retain control and save money.

• Bentgrass in a Poa World: Bayonet Black Horse, which fully reopened last December after a $13 million renovation, features all bentgrass playing surfaces - a rarity for the Monterey Peninsula.

• Pat Jones' Q&A with Dean Graves, a superintendent who never lets the grass grow under his feat at Chevy Chase Club.

Simply click here to access the issue.

We hope you enjoy the October electronic edition of Golf Course Industrymagazine. Please feel free to forward it to your colleagues.

And for daily news updates and late-breaking news be sure to visitwww.golfcourseindustry.com

Enjoy the issue.

Cordially,

Mike Zawacki
Editor
Golf Course Industry

P.S. If you can't click on any of the links above, please copy and paste this URL into your web browser:
http://golfcourseindustry.texterity.com/golfcourseindustry/200910

Mix and Mingle

Thank you to all who attended last night, it was a great evening! My team and I appreciate everyone who attended to see what goes into managing Hartefeld National. We look forward to holding one again next year. We will do it when it is a bit warmer!

M & M Question 10

And finally the last question.

Question 10

Who is considered the "father" of modern greenskeeping and where did he tenure?

M & M Question 9

Question 9

What do the following terms stand for?

- Lolium perenne

- Agrostis palustris

- Poa annua

Hint - K P C O F G S

M & M Question 8

Good day! Below is question number 8. On a side note, you will begin to see the color of the greens bear their late fall/winter coats. We have had a light frost the last two mornings and in combination with the growth regulators and sand greens, we will see some yellowing out. No big deal, just that time of year.

Question 8

On every bag of fertilizer the analysis of nutrients is listed as a "number" - "number" -

number". An example is 20-3-10 or 32-4-8.

The question is, what do these numbers mean and what does each stand for?

Hint - Look into this, not as simple as it may seem.

M & M Question 6 and 7

Good day! I will be posting a few questions today and one more tomorrow morning. I would like to have 10 questions for the trivia.

Question 6

What constitutes and "illegal" pin postion?

Question 7

A follow-up to our second question. Since we now know what aerification is, why do we aerate?

9th green stimped

At 10:00am the 9th green was stimped at a reading of 10.25ft. We
received .3 inches of rain in two downpours this morning at 5:45 and
6:45am.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

Response to article in GAP's monthly magazine "Is Your Course Down with brown? If Not It Should Be."

Recently there was an article posted in the Golf Assoc. of Phila. monthly magazine titled "Is your course down with brown? If not is should be." Sean Remington stated in the article "...nearly all of the group's (members of the Philadelphia Association of Golf Course Superintendents) 300 members are adopting brown techniques to varying degrees." We are part of this group! Since my arrival at Hartefeld National, I have implemented many new turfgrass management techniques, all these programs are based on a more progressive and sustainable approach. This approach allows for less costly inputs into the turf, freeing up valuable resources and more importantly, produces an excellent playing surface. Some of the members at Hartefeld have questioned some brown areas on the course throughout the year. We are doing exactly what these Superintendents speak of in this article. Although some brown is good, I feel it is also important to manage your membership expectations when it comes to turf management. If any of you have been privileged to play at Huntington Valley, I can assure you the management of the turf color would not be acceptable here at Hartefeld. That is what the members at HVCC want. There are times of the year when I am hardening off the turf, preparing it for the summer and winter stresses. Yes, I would like to push the turf a bit more, let it brown out a bit more, but that isn't what is acceptable here. Allowing the turf to stress at certain times of the year allows the plant to be stronger when we need it to be.

In the article, the three Superintendents mention areas on their properties where they have reduced inputs and allowed some brown. In the next few paragraphs, you will see what we have reduced and/or changed to decrease costly inputs into Hartefeld, yet still produce excellent playing conditions.

From an irrigation standpoint, I have introduced some changes that has decreased our irrigation input by over 30%; this includes a new state of the art central irrigation control system. This new control system includes a rain sensor to cutback on costly irrigation when rain events occur. I also installed part circle irrigation heads around our greens. Previously, to apply water to the green surrounds at Hartefeld, the full circle green's heads would need to be utilized. This process kept the greens wetter, producing a less than desirable putting surface. Utilizing part circle irrigation heads, I can irrigate only the surrounds, not putting a drop of water on the greens. This allows me to keep the greens dry, while still producing a desirable surround.

My IPM and BMP programs include a very aggressive wetting agent and penetrant program. We apply a wetting agent every 2 weeks on our tees and fairways and a combination wetting agent/penetrant to our greens. This allows me to decrease my water input and interval. Using 30% less water at Hartefeld has also decreased the need for fungicide applications.

My IPM program also includes a less traditional more progressive approach to turf disease management. Going back to building a sustainable turfgrass system, I utilize phosphites throughout the growing season. PO3 or Phosphite is naturally produced in a grass plant and is what helps the plant fight diseases. By applying very inexpensive phosphites and raising the level in the plant, certain costly nuisance diseases (brown patch and pythium) are not an issue for us. Growth regulators are heavily utilized at Hartefeld as well. All of our playing surfaces receive growth regulator applications from March until November. We do not apply growth regulators to reduce our mowing frequency, we use these to keep the plant healthy and to create a more desirable playing surface. There are also several other benefits to using PGRs.

Organic fertilizers are utilized heavily at Hartefeld National as well. I would need far more space than what I have available here to explain the benefits of organic fertilizers, but they to help produce the sustainable turfgrass system we are achieving. Not one of the mentioned above is a silver bullet, all of our IPM and BMP's work together to produce our sustainable system and playing conditions.

I hope the above has helped to explain and show that our programs here at Hartefeld are on par with Superintendents like Matt Shaffer and Scott Anderson at Merion and Huntingdon Valley.

M & M Question 5

Good evening! I hope you are all finding the answers to the questions I have posted. Just an FYI for the Mix and Mingle, from 5:30pm till about 6:15pm I will have equipment out on the 11th hole for any of you to demo if you wish. We are a little under the gun with daylight, so get there early if you would like to try any of our turf equipment. I will be showing most of our equipment during the shop tour as well.

Question 5

Two years ago I achieved CGCS (Certified Golf Course Superintendent) status with the GCSAA (Golf Course Superintendents Association of America). Only a very small percentage of all the Superintendents in the world reach this level of professional distinction.

Question 5 is what are the 4 requirements that must be met to achieve the CGCS professional distinction.

Hint - www.gcsaa.org Keep this website bookmarked, it is a very handy website for information.

7th green stimp reading

At 11:45am the 7th green was stimped at a reading of 10.5 feet.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

M & M Question 4

Good day! Question 4 for our trivia is based on the answer to question 3 and is a 2 part question.

Question 4

What type of growth habit does the following areas of turf exhibit:

Our greens?

Our fairways/tees?

Hint - There is a reason they call it creeping bentgrass and not just bentgrass.

Stimp readings today and Question 3B

I will not be stimping the greens today for two reason, first the rain and secondly the wind. Sustained winds at 15 to 20 mph with gust to 45, it will be to difficult to determine an accurate reading.

Since we have begun to post regular stimp readings, I will post a Question 3B

How do you stimp a green and what is the unit used when giving a stimp reading?

Hint - there are a few basic but very important steps in stimping a green, this is what I am looking for.

M & M Question 3

I hope you are all finding the answers to these questions. If some of you are finding these easily, they will get harder. Good luck!

Question 3

What are the three types of growth habits of grass?

18th green stimp

The 18th green was stimped at 9:40am at a speed of 10.3 feet.

William Brown, CGCS
Regional Agronomist

Pegasus Golf Management

Sent from my iPhone

M & M Question 2

Good day! Today's question for the mix and mingle is as follows:

What is the definition of aeration?

Mix and Mingle October 14th

Good day! As you may have seen in the last e-newsletter, the mix and mingle will be held in our turf facility. My team and I are excited to have you tour our facility and see what is involved in managing Hartefeld National. I have a schedule for the evening that will include a demo of some equipment, tour of the facility and a Q&A with our trivia.

From today until next Monday, I will post a question each morning that will be a part of the trivia. You may choose to answer these questions yourself or if you would like, form a small group and answer as a team. At the mix and mingle, the first person or team to give the BEST answer will be rewarded. Joe and I are working on some small prizes for the evening. Good luck and we look forward to you all being there.

Question 1
What is the definition of turfgrass? Thought this would be fitting as a first since we have almost 220 acres of this at Hartefeld.